The soaring popularity of online music providers and Internet distribution of music has opened a floodgate of new artists and offerings. Individual artists and musicians, who previously could not afford the cost of a major record label distribution network, can now upload their own offerings to various Internet services and offer them for download and distribution. Accordingly, the typical listener has a vast and growing array of music offerings from which to choose.
Not surprisingly, navigating through this array of music offerings is becoming more difficult. With so many choices, users must spend time wading through the offerings, and many times users miss learning of new releases because they simply did not have the time to get through all of the other new releases. Some users may help cut down on the number of offerings they consider by focusing, for example, on their favorite musicians, but that limits their ability to learn of other types of music that they may also enjoy.